Non-gelling foams are known from, for example, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,033 and the British Patent Specifications No. 598,610, No. 828,899 and No. 1,285,706. The foam may be used for the coating of substrates such as paper, non-woven fabrics, textile materials and carpets. In applying the foam to a textile material such as lingerie, articles with a very attractive appearance are obtained. The use of it for carpets very much contributes to sound damping and walking comfort. Moreover, it prevents a carpet from slipping.
The known non-gelling compounded latices, however, have the disadvantage that during the heat treatment in the gelling oven or vulcanization oven cracks will often occur in the surface of the foam layer with which the substrates are coated. This development of cracks can be somewhat reduced by very careful drying, for example with the use of less intense infrared radiation, by choosing very critical process conditions, and preferably using a composition with a very high solids content. The actual results are nevertheless found to be unsatisfactory.